Philadelphia, PA -- August 26, 2007

Reading Urban Triage: Race and the Fictions of Multiculturalism, by James Kyung- Jin Lee.

Her favorite book is The Fifth Book of Peace, by Maxine Hong Kingston. It originally was the fourth book of peace, but her house burned down while writing it. In The Fifth Book of Peace she reconstructs the book she lost, going back and forth between her life after the fire and her memories of the book. Formally it’s great.

Right now she is also reading a book by Karen Tei Yamashita called Through the Arc at the Rain Forest. The author teaches at UC Santa Cruz. She heard her speak once. In the book one character, a Japanese guy moves to Brazil. He has a ball attached to his head, spinning in front of him, and the ball narrates. Formally, she said, it's very interesting. She’s a third of the way through it.

She does mostly critical writing. If she were to write a book it’d be a series of short stories with various characters who would travel from the U.S. to outside the U.S. or vice versa. There would be themes of alienation, cultural adaptation, anxieties that arise, and new ties of affection.

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photo from beldenbrick.com

Interactive Map

Here's a link for an interactive Google map, where you can click on the push pins to see blog entries for each state.(depending on your connection speed, it takes a moment for the push pins to populate the map)

About Dogeared

The Rocky Mountains, Statue of Liberty, amber waves of grain, sprinklers on the grass, strip malls and chain stores may define our country's physical landscape, but it's the media we consume that defines who we are as people.

It's the magazines, newspapers, movies, video games, music and TV shows that fill our minds like the grade school health class motto--"you are what you eat."

While it's more likely that what comes across our iPods and TV sets defines us as a country, it's the books we read that interest me most--hand-held how-to, history, fantasy, memoir, magna comics... that go anywhere and everywhere. A substitute brain that lasts for over a hundred pages and turns the reader's mind into the author's thoughts.

In September of 2006 I began interviewing people reading books, on public transportation, in coffee shops and parks in San Francisco, where I've lived for the past five years. This project has been extremely satisfying. I have made new friends, broadened my horizons, and, when I sit down at my computer to work on my novel, I feel as though writing is a worthwhile. People love to read.

I will post on this blog during a six week period, from mid July through the end of August, and attempt to encompass a diverse sample of our country. Please write me at sonya.worthy@gmail.com if you have advice or suggestions, if I’ve made a mistake or you have something to add. Also, please comment if you have something to share with other readers. Comments are set up so that you don't need to log in or create an account--it's easy.